Red-rumped Parrot

The Red-rumped Parrot is a medium sized slender parrot found in the south-east of Australia. More images and info inside.

The adult male, shown above, is bright green with a blue green head, a red rump and yellow shoulders and belly. The female is a duller olive green with a green rump and faint yellow or light green scales on the belly. Young birds of both sexes are duller in colour. It is similar to the Mulga Parrot.

 

The Red-rumped Parrot is found in open grassland or lightly timbered plains, as well as along watercourses and in mallee farmlands with access to water. These Parrots feed in pairs or small flocks on the ground preferring to feed on seeds and leaves of grasses. They will also feed on fruits and flowers in trees. They can be seen feeding with other Parrots, including Eastern Rosellas and Galahs.

These birds mate for life. The female chooses and prepares the nesting site, usually a hollow in a eucalypt tree or, as shown above, in hollows found in wooden beams of buildings. Eggs are laid on a decayed wood bed and the female incubates the eggs while the male regularly feeds her. The young can be fed for a while after they fledge.
Source- http://birdsinbackyards.net/bird/104

The images in this post were taken at one of our friends farms in the Northern Hunter region of New South Wales. The birds are not easy to approach and I had to use a car as a hide to capture the images above. I was pretty lucky with the light as it was an overcast day. The female was perched in the shade under a roof and, as a result, the highlights in the background were blown.